Give it up for Jack Smith, who continues to bulldog-investigate Trump’s role in the Jan. 6th insurrection/riot.  Trump’s delaying tactics have weakened the issue as a potential influence on voters. But Smith does not cower in the shadows like some you could name when it comes to seeking justice.  Here’s how Katherine Faulders, Alexander Mallin, and Peter Charalambous explain it in their article, “Bombshell immunity filing details Trump’s alleged ‘increasingly desperate’ bid to overturn 2020 election” at abcnews.com: “Special counsel Jack Smith has outlined new details of former President Donald Trump and his allies’ sweeping and “increasingly desperate” efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss, in a blockbuster court filing Wednesday aimed at defending Smith’s prosecution of Trump following the Supreme Court’s July immunity ruling….Trump intentionally lied to the public, state election officials, and his own vice president in an effort to cling to power after losing the election, while privately describing some of the claims of election fraud as “crazy,” prosecutors alleged in the 165-page filing….”When the defendant lost the 2020 presidential election, he resorted to crimes to try to stay in office,” the filing said. “With private co-conspirators, the defendant launched a series of increasingly desperate plans to overturn the legitimate election results in seven states that he had lost….When Trump’s effort to overturn the election through lawsuits and fraudulent electors failed to change the outcome of the election, prosecutors allege that the former president fomented violence, with prosecutors describing Trump as directly responsible for “the tinderbox that he purposely ignited on January 6….The lengthy filing — which includes an 80-page summary of the evidence gathered by investigators — outlines multiple instances in which Trump allegedly heard from advisers who disproved his allegations, yet continued to spread his claims of outcome-determinative voter fraud, prosecutors said….”It doesn’t matter if you won or lost the election. You still have to fight like hell,” Trump allegedly told members of his family following the 2020 election, the filing said.” Read more here.

In “New Harris ad previews Vance’s dangerous potential power if Trump wins,” Jessica Sutherland writes at Daily Kos: “If Donald Trump wins in November, there are various reasons why he might not be able to complete a second four-year term. That means Americans could suddenly find themselves with a President JD Vance—a very scary prospect. The risks of a Vance ascension are at the center of “A Heartbeat Away,” the latest ad from the Harris-Walz campaign…. For anyone familiar with Vance’s extremism—recently detailed by MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow—it’s a stark reminder. For those who might not know much about the novelist-turned-first-term Ohio senator, who stumbled to a 2022 victory over former Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan thanks only to massive cash infusionsfrom Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Vance’s mentor, venture capitalist Peter Thiel, it’s a warning….The ad paints a picture of Vance and his “ruthless” ideology, and couches it against the real risk that a reelected Trump won’t be in the White House when the end of his term comes around in January 2029—whether because he’s in prison, or because of health reasons.” It’s hard to imagine Trump giving up power to anyone. But for those old enough to remember Gerald Ford’s pardon of Nixon, it doesn’t seem like such a crazy scenario. Here’s the ad:

If you needed an extra reason to get involved in early GOTV in your swing state, consider that some current events beyond anyone’s control are likely to produce painful price hikes in the not too distant future. Gas prices are relatively moderate at the moment. But the war in the mid east could be a problem. Read, for example “Rising oil prices after Iran strike could increase US gas prices, experts say by Max Zahn at abcnews.com and “Will gas prices, supplies be affected by the port strike? What experts say: Fortunately for Americans, the strike at 36 East and Gulf coast ports isn’t expected to disrupt the oil and gas industry – at least not right away” by Eric Lagatta and Medora Lee at USA Today. As regards your family dinner, check out  “Helene just pummeled America’s chicken farming capital” by Kenny Torella at Vox, in which he writes: “Hurricane Helene, the Category 4 storm that slammed the American Southeast over the weekend, has killed more than 110 people — and likely millions of chickens….Almost half of the more than 9 billion chickens farmed for meat in the US, known as “broiler” chickens, are raised and slaughtered in the region. Georgia is the nation’s top chicken producer, processing 1.3 billion chickens annually. Over the weekend, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp told reporters that 107 poultry facilities in the state had been “damaged or totally destroyed by the storm.”Some of the nation’s largest poultry companies — including Aviagen, Pilgrim’s Pride and Wayne-Sanderson Farms — suspended operations at their local facilities due to power outages in recent days.” Never mind that, for health reasons, Americans should be eating more vegetables and less factory-farmed chicken and that President Biden has done a good job of improving the economy. Regardless of the real reasons for inflation, however, the party that holds the White House usually loses votes as a result of price hikes at the gas pump and supermarket. Hence, the more early votes banked in the next few weeks, the better for Democrats.